John Raffel
Sports Scene
The 2012 MHSAA baseball and softball state finals produced two intriguing results:
Both Bishop Foley Catholic’s baseball team and Clinton’s softball team won back-to-back titles.
But even more unique is that Hudsonville won both Division I baseball and softball titles.
BASEBALL
Bishop Foley was too much for Lansing Catholic, winning the Division 3 title game 8-2.
Venture coach Buster Sunde was unable to coach Friday’s semifinal because he was ejected from Tuesday’s 1-0 win over Hillsdale in the quarterfinals. But with Sunde back in the fold on Saturday, Bishop Foley dominated the title game.
Catcher Brett Sunde’s two-run homer in the bottom of the first gave Bishop Foley the lead it never relinquished.
Centerfelder Luke Ortel delivered three hits for one RBI and three runs scored. Lansing Catholic made three errors.
The champs ended the season at 38-3.
“It’s a great win for your team and the program,” Buster Sunde said. “We have a lot of kids that will be back next year. Hopefully they can tell the new kids what it’s like to stand on this field the last day of the season.”
Senior Brian Bayliss was the winning pitcher. He threw a six-hitter, walking one and fanning eight.
“I’m more aggressive on the mound, throwing more strikes,” Bayliss said. “This year, I added a slider. The coaches and I felt it was a great pitch for me to learn. I used it as a out pitch. It has a good break at the end. It was a great thing to add to my pitches.”
“We have a saying that we’ll win together as a team or lose together,” Sunde said. “We call it shoulder to shoulder, that’s exactly what we did today. We went out as a team and fought as a team. That’s what we’ve preached in practice.”
How difficult is it to go back to back?
“It’s very tough,” Sunde said. “If you don’t have the personnel and kids willing to work hard and practice the right way, it’s hard. But we have so much character on this team. The kids practice hard every day and really became ballplayers.”
In Division 1 baseball, Hudsonville ended the season at 33-5 with a 9-6 victory over De La Salle Collegiate in the finals. Tyler Baar had a 3-run homer in the third inning for Hudsonville, and Logan Magsig contributed a double and an RBI for the champs.
De La Salle was 20-23-1 for the season, well below .500, and was hurt with five errors.
Grand Rapids Christian took advantage of five John Glenn errors to take the title game in Division 2 by a score of 6-1.
GR Christian scored three runs in the sixth inning to break a 1-1 tie and scored two more in the seventh. Taylor Pruis had three hits and two RBI for the winners, including a two-run single in the seventh.
David Vanvliet and Kurt Hoekstra handled the pitching duties for GR Christian.
Decatur ended the season a 36-6 with a Division 4 title victory over University Liggett 4-1. The winners scored two runs in the third inning and two in the fourth.
T.J Stambeck had two hits and an RBI for the winners.
Tim Cerven pitched for Decatur and had a five-hitter for the victory.
SOFTBALL
Hudsonville, by winning the Division 1 softball crown, did more than just join the school’s baseball team as state champs. The 2-1 win over Mattawan marked the third time in four seasons that the Eagles have won the state championship.
Lexi Agers allowed a run and eight hits in taking the win for Hudsonville. In the bottom of the 10th inning, Danielle Freeman, who had three hits for the day, singled and eventually scored on an error for the winning run.
Hudsonville ended the season with a 40-3 record.
Lauren Hayes, the No. 2 pitcher for Livonia’s Ladywood High School, got the call against Swan Valley and wound up pitching a 3-hitter in the title game. She walked two and struck out two.
Hayes also helped her own cause with three hits and two RBI. Celeste Fidge had a hit and two RBI.
Ladywood tagged Swan Valley’s Mackenzie Boehler for four runs on nine hits.
Clinton made it two straight in Division 3. A three-run third inning paced the Redskins, who ended the season at 43-1 and netted RBI from Abi Clark, Haley Mercy, Tierney Nelson, and Cami Prater.
The shutout for Clinton went to pitcher Tierney Nelson, who struck out seven batters and allowed two walks, plus six hits.
Dansville scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning in its 3-2 win over Summerfield for the Division 4 title.
Taylor Hoefling had the game-winning RBI double. Evy Lobdell had two hits and an RBI for Dansville. The Aggies overcame three errors to notch the victory and finish the season with a 31-5 record.
Meagan Kelly was the winning pitcher for Dansville, allowing seven hits but no walks.